Wordlethe once-a-day puzzle game, which has been entertaining puzzle enthusiasts (and messy Twitter feeds) since its launch last October, was purchased by New York Times… report New York Times. Long time, old friend.
The game is the brainchild of Josh Wardle and his partner Palak Shah, and one day it gives players six chances to guess a five-letter word. In one interview with Times Earlier this month, Wardle admitted that the project was partly inspired by Spelling Bee, one of the newspaper subscription games that Wordle may soon appear with.
Part of the appeal of World is that – unlike much of the internet today – it’s in the way it’s now ad- or subscription-enabled. No apps (although some Replication tried to capitalize on that fact.) That is, two years into a global pandemic, a rare, non-alloy commodity. The Times did not disclose the exact terms of Wordle’s acquisition, although it did state in a Press Release which it paid “in the low seven.” We have reached out to the Times for comment if any changes are expected.
On Twitter, Wardle stated that “it’s amazing to watch [Wordle] bringing joy to a lot of people.” He found the experience “a bit overwhelming”, as he was maintaining the free, highly trafficed game on his own. He noted that after it switched over. Times, Wordle” will be free to play for everyone, “and the winning streak will likely stay the same.
Wordle became such an overnight sensation, it is thought it could hardly be its creator’s first brush with mass online fame. While working for Reddit, he responsible for both “Place” and “The Button”, both of which have garnered a lot of positive attention, though not by the size or enduring power of Wordle, which is estimated to have millions of daily users. ONE robot (run by another former Reddit employee, Kevin O’Connor) tracks the number of solutions shared on Twitter via the now-popular black, green, and yellow emojis. It regularly cracks 250,000 such tweets per day.
The game itself became a kind of template for many new types of word puzzles, giving rise to various branches from legitimately fun challenges – like two columns Dordleopposite Puzzle or opponent Absent – silly or silly riffs such as Sweat and Erotic. More variations seem to be released every week. Still, it’s the end of an era of games that started it all, even if functionally for players, things look set to stay the same.
All products recommended by Engadget are handpicked by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
